flee the fighting in syria. we reported on their perilous journey to europe which they see as a safe haven. >> the bbc's matthew price met one family who travel to overhand from syria to libya before boarding a boat in lamb pa doosea. >> they came in on the overnight train from italy. scared. vulnerable. alone. an educated family, the father is an architect. they sold their two properties in syria to pay for their escape. now one bag contains everything they own. exhausted, they hypnotized a cafe. they asked us not to identify them. >>i want a better life and stability for my children. i want them to go to school and live just like other kids.

the children are living in fear. they ask me where is our house, mom? my daughter asks me about her bed. she wants to sleep in her bed, and i don't know what to say to her. >> we first met them in the refugee center in lamb pa deucea, where the mother describes their boat journey as a suicide trip, and we almost died, she said. six days later she was in vienna showing me photos of the house in libya where the people smugglers kept them. of that dangerous boat trip from africa to europe. italian officials then flew them from lamb pa doosea to southern italy. there they were free to go. >> we were given the choice to stay in italy or leave so the

red cross took us by car to the train station. someone from the refugee camp helped us with the tickets and we took the train to vienna. >> thousands of my grants have been arriving in italy and under e.u. law that's where claims for asylum should be processed yet as we found in this cafe, italian officials didn't require them to stay in fact parts of the system actively encouraged them to head north. >> then they took a tram toward the refugee center here. like many, they knew rules, they knew to register only in the country where they wanted to stay. their case austria where they have now formally applied for eye sy lum. >> firefighters in australia have been working around the clock to try contain a series of huge bush fires in the

mountains west of sydney. crews are now setting controlled fires to gain the upper hand before the forecast returns of dangerously hotwindy many homes have been destroyed in the worst fires they have seen in decades. >> this morning people in the blue mountains woke up to the welcomed sight of rain but forecasts say the showers will do little to quench the major firefighters. the situation remains dangerously unpredictable with the winds picking up and forecasted to strengthen tomorrow. >> already the winds are strong enough through the blue mountains and we've already associated 70-kilometer gusts of winds and higher and that's about to come towards the fire ground. that will present challenges. >> firefighters now say two of the biggest fires have merged but that this was done in a

controlled way to enable them to better fight the blaze. they are trying to avoid many more homes from being lost. for many, it's already too late. >> unfortunately, i've lost my whole house. there was no one in there. i managed to get my wife out. all our family is safe. but we did lose the complete house, and unfortunately two fairly precious cars. >> and people here said the failing summer could see things get much worse. >> it's just so dry. there's been no rain for months and months, so the last two fires we saw, it just didn't move as fast and it wasn't as dry. everyone is saying this is october. what's january going to be like? >> sydney has been shrouded in smoke. doctors are warning those with illnesses like asthma to stay indoors.

and it's reported -- it's a reminder that some of the fires themselves are just an hour's drive away. in new south wales. >> and in other news, president obama has called the french spoth discuss growing anger over claims the u.s. national security agency secretted recorded millions of french phone calls. the president says it's completely unacceptable and he demand they explain why french citizens were caught up in the surveils net. >> and a raid in the up aed west bank, israeli army and palestinian sources say the man was a member of islamic jihad and behind last year's tel-aviv bus bombing that wounded more than 20 people. the australian -- australia's federal government to overturn gay marriage

legislation. >> as greek police try identify a mystery blond girl living with a roman couple it's including a dozen missing child cases from at least four countries. some say they are investigating child disappearances from the u.s., sweden, poland and france. now where maria was found. >> it's here at the police station in the central greek city that the couple suspected of kidnapping little maria are being held until their trial on charges of abduction and holding false papers. they were brought here, led here in court yesterday, monday. their argument is that the little girl was given to them by a bulgarian woman three or

four years ago because she could not look after her, subsequently records prove known s 5 or 6 not 4 now to be on a falsefied birth certificate. the little girl is still under the charity smile of a child who has handled 8,000 phone calls from 23 different countries and emailed photos of eight children who bear a reaccidental ambulance to maria and say their search is continuing well. about 40 kilometers from here is the roma community in the town where maria lived with this couple. we were there. there was a jumpy atmosphere, they did not want us to film. this is a community that feels deeply marginalized and they fear this case of little maria will now only reinforce the negative stereotypes that there are of the roma community here

in greece. >> more on maria. now, the head of the u.n. children's agency warned afghanistan risks drifting back into into far programs are not continued to funded. one says the world should not turn its back on afghanistan gain like it did in the 1990's which led to it drift back into civil war. >> we've gone from education so from around a million kids in school to over 8 million today. bureau that's huge progress and 40% of them are girls and that's going to have a transformative effect on afghan society. all these girls that will be out there now earning wages and having more healthy families, etc. >> it's still a pretty

difficult place to be a child, isn't it? >> extremely difficult. you face so many issues. not only health and education, especially if you're a girl. but child trafficking. casualties of the fighting. i could go on and on. one of the interesting things i have to do, and i've been discussing while i was here is to find ways to gradually change what's worse in the culture in terms of child abuse, etc. but within the culture itself which is a wonderful, glorious culture, so we have to make our messages gauged to those families who are now allowing the sale of their daughters to show them that that's bad for the family. so it's always a glass half full, a glass half empty. we have to keep filling the glass. >> that was anthony ahead of the u.n. children's agency.

and staying with afghanistan we've got some breaking news for you this hour. 16 candidates for the presidential election have been disqualified according to sources in the afghan sources those declared invalued either have foreign passports or fail to supply support of 100,000 valid voters. candidates in the race including all those with a realistic expectation of winning. stay here with us on "bbc world news." still to come -- the drama moves from the stage to the courtroom. a former ballet dancer stands rial for an acid attack. >> an auction in brazil to develop one of the biggest .ffshore oil fields

it's having what it calls a good deal. >> just another day on the beach in rio. sun, sand and riot police. there were several lines of riot and regular troops. the police needing no invitation to open fire as just a few hundred striking oil workers threatened to disrupt one of the biggest oil auctions ever. >> we've had not far from the tel riot police and firing tear gas grenades and some of the tourists were still sitting there while all these clashes were going on. >> the government insists the auction was good for brazil. but most locals we spoke to simply don't trust their

politicians after years of corruption to fact that their interest. events inside the hotel went to head and disturbed. after initial hopes there would be dozens of bidders, what was biggest one of the brazilian, e by a japanese and another. already a medium-sized oil producer, brazil is now set to become one of the biggest exporters when it comes online. but in an effort to develop more than 12 billion barrels of oil, they will hand their profits to the brazilian government and operate under strict conditions. ry jow de janeiro. >> now here's a question for you, what content should and shouldn't be allowed on social

media sites? well facebook has been criticized by two members of its own safety advisors after reversing a ban on some violent content. decapitation and acts of terrorism and human rights abuses can also be posted on facebook. they want to allow useers to share experiences but doesn't want to glorify that and photos and videos which show drug use and nudety is still banned. to be surprised by the latest status update says he wouldn't even told about them in advance. a statement facebook says it has long been a place where people turn to share their experience particularly when they are connected to controversial events on the ground. the website said since some people object to graphic video

of this nature we are giving those control which may include warnings. for more on this story i am joined by the senior electorate on social media. thank you for being with us on gmt. what's your reaction to this? >> well, in some sense facebook seems morally conflicted because you're right it doesn't allowal naked breasts on its platform and wouldn't allow videos bearing acts of terrorism. it changed its mind again. it wants to demonstrate if it's a powerful network with the potential to make change happen. so it wants to allow videos in the right context, those which highlight human rights abuses to be potentially networked worldwide and they hope change happens. >> but the problem with facebook in a sense is it

doesn't provide that content and it's not allowing itself control and doesn't want people to glorify violence but how does it make that judgment? >> well, facebook says it can manage the way this con extent shared but it's easy for con don't end up in your stream whether you like it or not and sometimes it's full of stuff you would rather not read but the potential for horrific imagery to appear in your stream can also happen and facebook can manage that but content gets repurposed and re-used and re-mediated. it did seem it's making an exception here with this particular video in mexico. the but the offense too much this opens the floodgates remains to be seen. >> but aren't people around the world -- it matches that

you can't have nudety but k have some of the most violent things available on the net. >> what we have seen before in state control and censorship to the extent the state tells us what we can and can't see. in the u.k. we can see some things on television. so to the extent we've seen facebook taking control of that and being our moral guardian, so censorship ends up belonging to private organizations and it happens with the newspaper. the royal guardian. they tell us whether or not you can show naked breasts on it. >> but can we trust money-making organizations to become our moral guard zans >> yes, the critique would be is it in the eyes of advertisers? so it could attract that kind of voiristic potential and the

purpose of facebook because it still makes money on the back of it. we e question for us is trust our nate newspaper more than what we can and can't see. >> david, thank you for being with us. now one of the stars of the bolshoi ballet is going on trial accused of masterminding an acid attack on the ballet's director. assault organizing the which hosted bitter behind-the-scenes rivalry in one of russia's greatest institutions. steve rosenberg reports. >> he was a star dancer with the bol shoy now pavel is going on trial accused of targeting his boss. it's nine months since the

bolshoi's director was attacked outside his apartment block. late one night someone came here and flung acid into his face causing him excruciating pain. it caused him serious burns and was nearly blinded. months of medical treatment abroad followed and more than 20 operations to try to save his sight. he is now back in moscow. but his treatment will continue. avel is accused of masterminding the attack following work the dancer denies ordering an acid attack on the director but con creeds he did consider violence. also in the dock will be the man accused of throwing the acid, an angry bhorne allegingly drove the get away car. in imitrichenko only that

so far as he offered to beat him -- refused to beat him up as a last result. >> the troop has been rocked by in-fighting and scandals. focused attention on dramas behind-the-scenes rather than those on stage. july, the government appointed a new general director here. in an attempt to steady the ship. but inventfully trial will once again put the spotlight on tensions at the heart of one of the worlds most famous ballet companies. "bbc news," nost moscow. >> now, if you've ever found yourself in a restaurant that's just a little too noisy or hectic, we may have the place for you, one in new york offering silent meals. no one's allowed to talk by eating and the theory is you will be better able to enjoy

your food. >> when you go to a restaurant, you usually want good food, a good atmosphere and the chance to enjoy witty conversation. that might not be so easy that the place in brooklyn. several times week the restaurant serves what is called a silent meal. that's a meal eaten in, well, complete silence. the chef came up with the idea while living in a buddist mon snare india. it seems too much noise means not enough taste. >> it's like when you take a peace of let us and put it against your lips an incredible number of sensations go on that we're not paying attention to and i think that's the microcosm of our entire experience in which our perception and conscious necessary are always confronting the world with the senses. >> the proof of the pudding is

in the eating. so what did the patrons have to say? after they left of course. >> i actually liked it. i thought it helped me slow down and think about every bite instead of just devouring it and realizing it was gone. i enjoyed it. brought it flavor if the food. >> it was stuff. -- tough. i really miss the conversation. the food was great and i like talking to people as muc as i like eating food. i like them together. >> keeping quiet while filling your mouth is pretty popular in these parts but in this restaurant silence really is golden. tim, "bbc world news." >> come on. eating food is about to be fun. now, coming up in the next half an hour on gmt, the united states says its drone strikes are surgical and contained but human rights groups say u.s.

officials responsible for drone strikes could be committing more crimes. attacks in both pakistan and yemen killed civilians indiscriminately. but what's the alternative? we will be exploring this from someone from amnesty international. do stay with us here on gmt. >> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, newman's own foundation, giving all profits to charity and pursuing the common good for over 30 years, nd union bank. >> at union bank, our

relationship managers work hard to understand the industry you operate in, working to nurture new ventures and help provide capital for key strategic decisions. we offer expertise and tailored solutions in a wide range of industries. hat can we do for you? >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet, los angeles.

welcome to "newsline." i'm keiko kitagwa in toke wroe. here are the headlines. japanese delegates signed a joint statement by the united nations renouncing the use of nuclear weapons. the people in charge of fukushima daiichi say they'll do more to track leaks of rad radioactive water and radiation levels offshore. and many seniors in taiwan have

made a happy discovery. they say life really does get better as you age. japanese officials have given their backing to a united nations movement against the inhumane consequences of nuclear warfare. for the first time, they've signed a statement renouncing use of nuclear weapons under any circumstances. it says if humanity is survive, such weapons must never be used again. a committee of the u.n. swregen assembly that deals with disarmament adopted the statement. representatives from 125 countries signed it. >> the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of punuclear weapo are a fundamental and global concern. >> the document says a nuclear weapons have immense uncontrollable destructive capabilities indiscriminate in nature. it says the use and testing of such weapons have shown the

consequences are inacceptable. delegates from around the world are adopted three similar statements since may of last year including one at a conference on the nuclear nonproliferation treaty. up until now, japanese officials have refused to participate. many japanese including survivors of the atomic bombings criticized the government. japan is the only country to have been hit by the atomic bomb, and the critics said because of that, japanese officials had a responsibility to sign the statement. but government officials said the phrase rejecting the use of nuclear arms under any circumstances is incompatible with japan's reliance on the u.s. nuclear umbrella. the latest statement says awareness of the consequences must underpin all approaches toward disarmament. the wording opened the door for untris such as japan. >> translator: the overall context of the statement now

conforms to the country's security policy and its disarmament efforts. therefore, japan decided to participate. >> japanese officials plan to host an international conference on disarmament and nonproliferation next april in hiroshima. the people in charge of the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant announced plans to check radiation levels offshore around the plant. they say it will allow them to react more quickly if contaminated water leaks into the pacific ocean. officials with tokyo electric power company met with a panel from the nuclear regulation authority. the panel is studying the impact of the leaks. tepco workers currently check coastal waters once a day. experts say more frequent checks would provide more detailed information and allow for quicker responses. tepco officials say they'll provide more detailed plans next month at a meeting with panel

members. they'll explain where they'll place monitoring devices and how they carry out the checks. the nuclear regulation authority monitors waters up to 300 kilometers from the plant. the regulators said they plan to check ove a wider area up to 3,000 kilometers. they say they'll ask the crews of ships to help correct data. the regulators want to share such information with their counterparts from around the northern pacific rim. workers at the plant are tackling another problem. contaminated rainwater. forecasters are calling for heavy rain later this week. the workers are adding pumps to keep rainwater tainted with radioactive substances from overflowing. heavy downpours caused rainwater to overflow sunday from 11 barriers around tanks holding radioactive wastewater. water in six oaf the barriers contained